By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
Ernest Dollar, executive director for the Chapel Hill Historic Preservation Society, likes to refer to uncovering the history of the Hogan-Rogers house as his real-life Oprah Winfrey episode.
The history of the house has a little something for everyone – elements of discovery, drama, mystery and what Dollar hopes will be a happy ending.
Dollar first heard about the house, located at 1614 Purefoy Drive near the historic Rogers Road neighborhood, when the fire department was talking about burning it for training exercises and the neighborhood was banding together to try to save it.
“I heard the words ‘historic house,’ and my ears perked up,†Dollar said. The next thing he knew, he was getting a tour of the historic sites in the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood from David Caldwell, a Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA) member.
To the ordinary passerby, the two-story house is inconspicuous, a dilapidated structure with all the windows boarded up. But when Dollar saw it, he was immediately intrigued.
Not only was the fire department eyeing the building but St. Paul AME Church had recently bought the land the house was on and was in the process of obtaining permits to put a new complex on the site.
“Right then and there we knew we had to act fast to find out some way to preserve this house,†Dollar said.
With the help of preservation society intern Lauren Poole, Dollar discovered that not only was the house of historic value, it was of rare historic value for multiple reasons.
Built in 1843 by Thomas Lloyd Hogan of the Chapel Hill Hogan family, the plantation home is one of only seven antebellum homes in Chapel Hill, meaning it was built before the Civil War.
“Once we found that, we realized how endangered this house was and how much this house means to Chapel Hill history,†Dollar said.
For that reason alone the house had major historic value, but what Dollar and Poole discovered next made the house even more special.
“The Hogan family probably lost possession of the house in the early 20th century,†Dollar said. “Then Sam Rogers Jr., the son of former slaves, bought the house and then lost it during the Great Depression.â€
According to historic documents, Rogers’ wife Mary Hogan was the daughter of Morris Hogan, who was the son of Alexander Hogan, the plantation owner Thomas Lloyd Hogan’s son, and Eliza Burse, one of the Hogan’s slaves.
Dollar and Poole found out that the house passed between white and black owners throughout its history, and that Morris Hogan was not the only mixed-race child of the Hogan family.
“This was not an isolated incident,†Dollar said.
Having learned the extensive history of the house, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, St. Paul AME Church and RENA, along with the preservation society, are trying the save it.
One of their ideas is to move the structure to the Rogers Road neighborhood and convert it into a community center as part of the county’s landfill-mitigation efforts.
Additionally, Dollar is hoping that St. Paul AME Church will preserve the home’s basement, which is where the Hogan’s slaves lived, as part of a museum they are planning to build on the site.
Dollar said the cost to move the house will be around $40,000, but that to totally renovate the structure it could cost $600,000, which Penny Rich, a member of the Rogers Road mitigation committee and the Chapel Hill Town Council, said is money they don’t have but are trying to find through grants and loans.
“It’s really frustrating because there is money out there, that’s true,†Rich said. “But what you can apply for and how the money can be used is very different.â€
The Orange County Board of Commissioners recently set aside $120,000 of their FY 2012-13 budget for the community center, but it’s unclear exactly how the money will be used.
“There is a lot of passion around that house,†Rich said. “When you find something like that, that has so much history, you don’t want to lose it. It is a really important part of our heritage.â€
Thanks for a great article Carrboro Citizen. For folks wanting to know more about the project please visit the Preservtion Society’s webpage at http://chapelhillpreservation.com/preservation-efforts/lloyd-rogers-house/
Thanks